Rotten
by Doomed-Kelpie
Summary: Robbie never wanted to be the villain. Truthfully, he didn't mind sports candy or exercise at all. But before he was the town villain, he was nothing. And he never wanted to be nothing again. Negative attention is better than none, right?


**Rotten?**

 _Hi everyone! I haven't written a fanfiction in a while… yet, I somehow decided to write a Lazytown fanfiction of all things. I know I'm a bit late on the whole meme revival thing, but that's just how I roll._

 _Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading._

XXX

Robbie was sitting in his orange chair, casually munching on a bright, shiny apple. Yes, an apple. Robbie Rotten, the self-proclaimed villain of Lazytown and hater of all things healthy, was eating an apple.

In reality, this wasn't all that strange for the man. He actually didn't mind eating sportscandy, and it wasn't like he could actually live off of junk food alone. In fact, there were some fruits and vegetables that he actually enjoyed.

Of course, he would never let anyone catch wind of that fact. He was the villain, after all, and he had his reputation to maintain. He had to put on a show, dramatically denouncing fruits and vegetables and exercise and everything that kept people from having a heart attack at thirty. As a villain, Robbie got to be in the spotlight, wearing ridiculous costumes, moving in exaggerated ways, and playing his role like an actor in a play.

It didn't matter that his spotlight was only temporary. It didn't matter that the light would be shut off and the curtains would be drawn as soon as his plan was foiled. Because those few moments were enough. They had to be, because they were all he had.

The tightening of his chest that accompanied that thought was painful, so he pushed it away.

Robbie looked down at his half-eaten apple. He was running low on groceries, and this apple was actually his last one. Of course, Robbie would have to go to the supermarket soon, and he didn't really want to exert the effort. He may not hate fruit and exercise, but he still wasn't a ball of energy like Sportacus. And since he had to go to the next town over to buy his groceries, to make sure no one would see the non-junk food he purchased, going to the supermarket was actually a lot of effort.

Robbie quickly finished his snack and stood up, deciding that he should get to the store before it was too late in the day. Going over to a closet, he took out some reusable shopping bags, opaque ones that would hide his purchases from any curious eyes. Then, without further ado, he exited his underground lair.

As always, Sportacus was playing in the park with the children. Robbie didn't really mind Sportacus too either, but having a hero to go against gave him more time in the spotlight. The man was far more athletic than him, but he didn't really care as long as he wasn't being annoying about it. He knew none of his ridiculous schemes would really work, and he secretly hoped that Sportacus had realized that as well.

"Hey, Robbie!" the man in blue greeted him as he flipped over. "Do you want to come play with us?"

Robbie tightened his expression into a scowl.

"Why would I _ever_ want to do that?" he asked incredulously.

"Because it's fun!" Stephanie piped up.

Perfect. The children were watching too. Robbie straightened his vest, preparing himself to put on a show.

"As if all that exercise could ever be _fun_!" he exclaimed in reply. "Besides, I have shopping to do."

"Shopping?" Sportacus questioned.

"Yes, yes, I have to buy cakes, cookies, sugar, candy, and more sugar. Nothing that would interest you, I'm afraid. See ya, brats!" Robbie rambled.

Robbie was reluctant to cut his own screentime short, but he really did need to get to the store. So, walking briskly away with steps that were abnormally large, Robbie left them.

XXX

A few hours later, Robbie had finished his shopping and returned home. He had started putting away his groceries, putting the fruit in a bowl, the eggs and milk in the fridge, and most other things in the pantry, not realizing that he had dumped water on the floor when he had made hot chocolate that morning. He took a box of cereal out of his shopping bag and went to put it in the cabinet with his other dry goods, stepping into the puddle as he did so.

Then, he suddenly found his feet sweeping up into the air as he slipped backward.

"AH!" he gasped in surprise.

The box of cereal flew out of his hands and landed on the floor, denting itself on one of the corners. Robbie shared a similar fate, quickly landing on the floor with a thump. The back of his skull collided with the hard cement, making a sharp clack against it. Robbie was left on the floor for a moment, groaning in pain with the breath knocked out of him.

XXX

He, however, had no idea that such a small accident would prove to be so significant, as he had no idea that it had set of the local hero's crystal. Sportacus, seeing that he was in danger, quickly flipped over to his lair. Choosing not to knock in case it was an emergency, Sportacus went right down. As he landed on his feet, Robbie was just managing to sit up, rubbing the back of his head.

"Robbie! Are you okay?!" he questioned loudly.

Robbie immediately covered his ears, the shout having caused a bolt of pain to shoot through his already hurting head. Seeing The other man's pain, Sportacus ran to his side.

"What happened, Robbie?!" he asked, still loudly.

"Would you… be… quieter?" Robbie requested, cringing once again.

"Sorry," Sportacus spoke quietly. "What happened?"

Robbie shook his head slightly before looking at Sportacus.

"Fell," he replied simply.

Sportacus looked at the man with worry. He was clearly hurt, and he guessed, from the way that Robbie was rubbing it, that Robbie had hit his head.

"I think you should go see a doctor," Sportacus told him, offering his hand to help him up.

Robbie didn't protest, and he reached out a hand to take the one Sportacus offered, keeping the other on his head. Once he was upright, Robbie let go, only to start falling again once he tried to walk. His hands tried to grab the countertop to stop his fall and ended up knocking over a bowl of… fruit?

Sportacus quickly caught the villain, not noticing what he had knocked over until he had helped Robbie stand up again. He was surprised to see the fruit in Robbie's lair, but he decided that it was more important to get Robbie to a doctor than to ask.

The hero had to help Robbie out of his lair, noting that the man cringed again once they were outside in the sun. He was pretty sure Robbie had a concussion.

XXX

Sportacus turned out to be right. Luckily, however, Robbie had gotten better in a little over a week. During that time, Sportacus chose not to mention the fruit, and Robbie didn't seem to know that he had noticed it. After a while, however, his curiosity got the better of him, and Sportacus decided to ask. He found Robbie sitting on a park bench, probably just having woken up, and walked up to him.

"Hi, Robbie!" he said with a grin.

"What do you want, Sportakook?" Robbie growled in reply.

"I just wanted to talk with you," answered the hero.

"Ew, I'll catch your Sportacooties," Robbie spoke with exaggerated, fake disgust.

Sportacus laughed and sat down next to him.

"So, are you feeling better now?" he asked.

"Of course! Nothing can beat the Number One Villain in Lazytown!" the man spoke with confidence.

"Not even a concussion?" Sportacus questioned, smiling.

Robbie snorted. Spoartacus paused, considering the question he wanted to ask. Knowing Robbie, he probably wouldn't get an actual answer, but he figured it was worth a shot.

"So… Why did you have a bowl of fruit in your lair?" he asked finally.

"Fruit? What fruit?" Robbie gagged. "As if I would let such disgusting things into my evil lair!"

Sportacus has predicted correctly.

"I'm pretty sure I saw you knock a bowl of it over," Sportacus insisted.

At this, Robbie stood up.

"Maybe you're the one with a concussion now, Sportacrazy. There has never been a bowl of fruit in my lair, and there never will be!" the villain proclaimed.

And with that, Robbie quickly scampered away. Sportacus could tell, of course, that Robbie was lying. He knew that bowl of fruit was there, but Robbie was trying to hide it. He silently hoped that he had finally gotten through to the man a bit, and it was just Robbie's pride that prevented him from admitting it.

Deciding that was enough for now, Sportacus went off to play a game of some sort.

XXX

Once Robbie had made it back to his lair, he slumped into his favorite chair with a frustrated sigh. He knew that, put on the spot, his act hadn't been very convincing. Now, he would have to come up with some kind of story to explain the fruit. It would be best to do something fruit-related, perhaps another harebrained scheme, before Sportacus brought it up again. If he was lucky, the hero would just think he didn't want to reveal his evil plan.

But… The fruit from over a week ago wouldn't still be fresh, would it? He couldn't just buy fresh fruit to replace what he had eaten since then… But he could get some fruit should have probably been thrown out by the supermarket, but never was (there always were some, it seemed). That's it! He would build a machine that shot rotten fruit at Sportacus! He could say that he thought the smell would be bad enough to make everyone drive him out of town. Or that Sportacus would get so sad about wasted sportscandy that it would stop him from doing his hero thing. Whatever, it didn't matter. It's not like he wanted the plan to work anyway, so it could be as ridiculous as he wanted it to be.

XXX

Sure enough, the plan had utterly failed. Robbie went down the hatch to his home, covered in bits of mushy, overripe/rotten fruit. Of course, he would have to shower and wash his clothes, but he hoped that it was worth it. Surely, Sportacus wouldn't still think that Robbie was eating the sportscandy now, right?

Confident in his most recent performance, Robbie strolled into his bathroom and turned on the water to his shower. As he waited for the water to warm up to a less freezing temperature, he removed his sticky clothes and tossed them in the hamper. He would do the laundry once he was clean himself.

Soon, the water was warm, and Robbie hopped in, letting the water clean away the evidence of today's plan. He sighed as he reached for the bottle of shampoo, thinking about what had happened. He knew that he had wanted the scheme to fail, and he knew that he normally basked in the negative attention his schemes brought, but he couldn't help but feel a bit bothered by the aftermath of this one. His performance, he was still convinced, had in fact been perfect, so he wasn't upset about that. No, he was slightly upset about his choice to use rotten fruit in his plan.

The children had picked up on the fact that it was rotten, and when he was inevitably covered in it, they couldn't help but notice the irony. Robbie Rotten, covered in fruit just as rotten as he is. It was Trixie who finally said it out loud, and when she did, even Sportacus snickered a bit.

Robbie shook his head, being careful to keep the soap out of his eyes. He didn't know why he was so upset over it! He's done far more ridiculous, embarrassing things before! Hell, normally even he would find such irony amusing! And besides, this is exactly what he wanted, so why shouldn't he be happy when he got it?

The villain quickly finished his shower and began to dry himself off. He didn't want to think about it anymore.

XXX

As the days passed, Sportacus almost forgot about Robbie's sportscandy. He was, after all, busy saving the day, playing, and exercising. When he did remember, Sportacus was still pretty sure that Robbie had only come up with such a ludicrous scheme to hide that he was actually eating sportscandy. He was glad. Maybe Robbie would eventually be able to openly enjoy it, and he might even willingly join their games one day.

The happiness filled Sportacus with extra energy, so he decided to go on a run to burn it off. Unknown to him, however, Robbiw had just returned from shopping again. He was walking down the streets of Lazytown, opaque bags full of groceries in hand, walking toward his lair. Robbie was, as Sportacus approached, checking his watch, and the hero wasn't really paying a lot of attention to his surroundings. By the time he saw Robbie and Robbie saw him, it was too late for the hero to fully stop and too late for Robbie to step aside. Sportacus ran right into Robbie, knocking both of them to the ground. Robbie's groceries flew from his hands and scattered across the sidewalk. Luckily, the villain landed on his backside and avoided another concussion.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry, Robbie!" Sportacus apologized when he registered what had happened.

He quickly got off of the other man, having fallen on top of him, and then helped him up as well.

"Watch where you're going, Sportaflop!" Robbie scolded as he dusted off his clothes.

It was then that he noticed that his groceries were scattered around them. Luckily, most of the food seemed to have survived the fall. His eggs, however, were, as expected, completely shattered, and his container of milk had burst open, causing the liquid inside to form a puddle on the ground, … And his fruits and vegetables were scattered in full display.

Sportacus began to pick up the scattered food, still apologizing, until he was about to pick up a head of lettuce. He then froze, and Robbie froze too, tensely wondering what the hero's reaction would be. Sportacus, however, chose to say nothing and quickly finished putting the food back into the bags.

"I'm really sorry, Robbie. I'll get you some new eggs and milk later, okay?" Sportacus offered.

But Robbie remained frozen. Seeing this, Sportacus smiled reassuringly.

"It's okay to eat healthy sometimes, Robbie. No one would think you're less of the villain we know for it, and I won't tell anybody anyway," the man spoke.

This was enough to break Robbie free of his shock. He quickly took the bags from Sportacus and scoffed.

"As if I would ever eat something _healthy_ ," he said, pretending to gag as he said the forbidden word. "All of this is going to be turned into a sugary, delicious, _unhealthy_ cake!"

"You're going to put lettuce in a cake?" Sportacus questioned, his smile becoming amused.

"I bought that by accident!" Robbie insisted, knowing that putting most of what he had bought, healthy or not, would actually make a cake taste horrible.

"Alright, Robbie," Sportacus agreed.

Robbie stomped off, knowing that he had just blown away an important part of the villainous character he had created.

XXX

Robbie was tired.

He had been dragged into one of Sportacus's games with the children, and it had been _fun_. The children were laughing and throwing a frisbee, and Sportacus was smiling. The mayor had ended up stopping by to see what Stephanie was up to, and he chatted with Robbie a bit about mundane things like the weather. Ms. Busybody, who decided to bring snacks to the children, even offered him some as well. She gave him an oatmeal raisin cookie, and he was so touched that he didn't even remember to pretend to be disgusted at the slightly healthy ingredients. That day, everyone just enjoyed themselves. For once, Robbie didn't have to play the villain.

Yet, Robbie resented that little taste of positive attention. He knew that he would never experience a day like that again. Everything would go back to the way it was. He would be the villain, Sportacus would be the hero, and he would always be on the outside, desperately grasping for whatever attention he could get.

He was tired of playing the villain.

He was tired of being disliked, of being hated.

He was just _tired_.

The man stared up at the ceiling from his spot in his chair as his thoughts travelled back to when he was younger. Back then, he wasn't a villain at all. He wasn't a hero, either. Really, he wasn't much of anything.

He was nothing.

His mind drifted back to memories of solitary parties, forgotten birthdays, holidays spent alone. He remembered so many days when he just sat alone in his lair while everyone else was out doing something, being something.

Robbie knew that blaming others wouldn't fix anything. It wasn't even really their fault. It was his own fault that he was nothing. He couldn't expect people to befriend someone when there was nothing to befriend. It was no wonder people didn't notice him unless he made them!

Yet, he couldn't help but feel a bit of painful, unfair bitterness hiding within his heart. Part of him was bitter at the thought that people didn't try to befriend him anyway, although he knew that wasn't entirely true. Part of him was bitter that everyone else had what he didn't, leading to a bitter jealousy. Part of him was bitter at himself for being who he was.

Robbie Rotten was tired and bitter, and he just wished that he was able to change what made him feel that way. As his thoughts continued to spiral downward, Robbie felt another emotion rise up like a tidal wave: sadness.

He silently cursed himself when he felt a single tear roll down his cheek.

XXX

As hard as Robbie tried to hide his true self, keep up the act, it was only a matter of time before he cracked.

Robbie had been right. Things more or less went back to the way they always were. And the pain that brought him shot through his heart like a bullet.

He had just finished failing at one of his schemes, having been thwarted by the almighty Sportacus and healthiness once again. Wearily, he left the scene and ended up going to the park to sit on a bench, not wanting to descend into his lair yet. His plan had taken longer than usual to fail, so it was getting dark. Soon, everyone would be going inside to have dinner and eventually go to bed.

So, Robbie sat there on the bench, alone, trying to keep his face from showing what he really felt. He wasn't confident in how well he was doing, but he figured that no one was likely to bother him at that time of day. The longer he sat there, however, the harder it became to hold everything in. Just as the villain decided to go home, thinking that it would be better to cry in secrecy than in public, he heard a voice call out to him.

"What're you up to, Robbie?" it asked.

Robbie turned around, and, of course, he saw Sportacus standing behind him. The man didn't sound angry, and Robbie was secretly glad about that. He was sure that he would start crying if Spoartacus chose to yell at him.

When he received no answer from the villain, Sportacus came closer and sat down beside him.

"Is something wrong? You look upset," the man asked.

And that was it. Robbie could hold it in no longer. As the tears started flowing down his cheeks, Sportacus looked surprised, but his face quickly shifted to concern. He pulled the villain into a side-hug in an attempt to help.

"It's okay, Robbie. Whatever is wrong, I'm here for you," Sportacus comforted.

Robbie, now openly sobbing, wasn't able to tell Sportacus why he was so upset. So, the man just continued to hug him, not leaving even though tears and snot were running down Robbie's face.

As he eventually started to calm down, Robbie thought that maybe he didn't have to be alone anymore.

XXX

 _Well, I hope you liked my first (maybe only?) Lazytown fanfiction._

 _I tried to have a kind of positive ending that was still a bit ambiguous._

 _Bye!_


End file.
